'Night of terror': Manhattan socialite Anne Bass was held for 12 hours in the 2007 ransom attempt at her country retreat in Connecticut

The butler accused of holding millionaire socialite Anne Bass hostage for 12 hours in her Connecticut estate and injecting her with a 'deadly virus' is to face trial today.

Masked assailants convinced the philanthropist that she would die from the injection and demanded that she pay $8.5 million for an antidote.

The men said Bass and her boyfriend, artist Julian Lethbridge, had 20 hours to
produce the cash and it was only after the men reconsidered and
fled the house, that the victims learned that the substance was
harmless, likely an ink.

A trial is starting in U.S. District
Court this week for Emanuel Nicolescu, a former head butler at the Bass
estate, who is the only person arrested in the crime. Nicolescu, 31, has
pleaded not guilty to charges including attempted extortion. His attorney declined comment.

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Authorities
say Nicolescu and at least two other men broke into the house around 11
p.m. on April 15 2007, on the estate spanning several hundred acres in
the western Connecticut town of Kent. The 69-year-old Bass, former wife
of Texas billionaire Sid Bass, also has homes in New York and Fort
Worth, Texas.

Tormented: Anne Bass and her boyfriend, artist Julian Lethbridge, left,
refused to give up the $8.5million demanded by attackers in 2007, and, Texan millionaire Sid Bass, left, who divorced from Anne in 1988

An attorney for the victims said in court papers
they have lived in constant fear that the attackers still at large could
harm them again. Bass and her boyfriend 'look forward to justice
being done,' said a spokesman, Allan Mayer.

The
attackers
brandished knifes, blindfolded the victims and bound their hands while a
three-year-old child slept in the house. One of the victims said the
man
that administered the injection to the other victim wore pale green
gloves, according to court documents.

He told the
men Bass did not keep that sum of money in the house and that she would
have to contact associates out of state to get the money. At one point,
the assailants considered transporting one or both of the victims to New
York, according to an arrest affidavit.

The men talked on either cellphones or two-way radios.

After
about five hours in the house, the men became concerned with the
presence of the child, the health of the victims and their apparent
inability to immediately obtain the money, the affidavit says. Before
fleeing, the men gave the victims a beverage that they claimed was the
antidote and the victims fell asleep.

Bass and her guest were later treated at a hospital.

Luxury pad: The sprawling Connecticut retreat where Anne Bass and her boyfriend were held captive for 12 hours by masked attackers

Nicolescu
had been in charge of the estate's household staff and provided housing
on the property, but his employment was terminated months before the
home invasion, according to authorities.

After the attack, his DNA was allegedly found in a Jeep that was stolen from the family and taken to New York.

Nicolescu's
attorney said in court papers filed Tuesday that the attempted
extortion charges should be dismissed because federal authorities lack
jurisdiction. Nicolescu's attorneys say the law allows federal
prosecution of robbery or extortion that interferes with interstate
commerce but the crime lacks such an apparent link 'other than the fact
that one of the victims is extremely wealthy.'

A message was left for prosecutors.

Nicolescu
was born in Romania and came to the United States after his father
sought political asylum as a refugee, his attorney said, according to
court papers. Nicolescu has Romanian and U.S. citizenship.

He has
been detained since his arrest in Chicago last year. A judge called him a
flight risk, saying he has strong ties overseas and faces a long
sentence if convicted.

Nicolescu is charged with attempted
extortion, conspiracy to commit extortion, and possession of a stolen
vehicle. He faces up to 50 years in prison if convicted at the trial
beginning Wednesday.

About six days after the crime, an accordion
case washed ashore in New York that included a stun gun, knife, black
plastic airsoft gun, crowbar, syringes, sleeping tablets, green latex
gloves and a laminated telephone card labeled with the address of the
victim.

A co-defendant who is at large is an accordion player, prosecutors say.